# dose

> English word · Noun · IPA /dəʊs/ · frequency rank #5,124

## Definitions
1. A measured portion of medicine taken at any one time.
2. The quantity of an agent (not always active), substance, or radiation administered or experienced at any one time.
3. Anything disagreeable that must be taken.
4. A good measure or lengthy experience of something.
5. A venereal infection.
6. A cold; a common, viral illness of the nasal passage, sometimes with fever.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French dose, from Late Latin dosis, from Ancient Greek δόσις (dósis, “a portion prescribed”, literally “a giving”), used by Galen and other Greek physicians to mean an amount of medicine, from δίδωμι (dídōmi, “to give”). Doublet of doos.

## Easily confused with
- **DS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-ds)
- **due** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-due)
- **dot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-dot)
- **dye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-dye)
- **dow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-dow)
- **Dre** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-dre)
- **DPS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-dps)
- **DSM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-dsm)
- **DSP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-dsp)
- **DSL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-dsl)
- **DTs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-dts)
- **DSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-dsa)
- **DSI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-dsi)
- **dox** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-dox)
- **down** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-down)
- **dude** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-dude)
- **duke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-duke)
- **dust** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-dust)
- **Doug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-doug)
- **dots** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-dots)

## Common misspellings (4)
`ddose`, `dosse`, `dsoe`, `odse`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/dose